South-Carolina
South Carolina prepares for first execution in more than 13 years
A man on death row in South Carolina has until 6 September to decide how he would prefer to be executed by the state.
South Carolina’s prisons director has declared the state’s supply of a lethal injection drug acceptable and said its electric chair was tested two months ago and its firing squad has the ammunition and training to carry out its first execution next month in more than 13 years, if needed.
Corrections director Bryan Stirling was ordered by the state supreme court to submit a sworn statement to the lawyer for Freddie Owens certifying that all three methods of putting a prisoner to death are available for his scheduled 20 September execution.
Owens’s lawyers have said they will review the statement, and if they do not think it is adequate, they will ask the state supreme court or federal judges to consider it.
Owens, 46, was sentenced in 1999 for shooting and killing Irene Graves, a gas station employee in Greenville during a robbery in 1997.
Owens has until 6 September to decide how he wants to die, and he signed his power of attorney over to his lawyer, Emily Paavola, to make that decision for him. The state supreme court has agreed to a request from the prison system to see if that is allowed under South Carolina law.
The power of attorney was signed under the name Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah. Owens changed his name in prison but goes by his old name in his legal hearings with the state to avoid confusion.
In the sworn statement, Stirling said technicians at the state Law Enforcement Division laboratory tested two vials of the sedative pentobarbital, which the state plans to use for lethal injections.
Stirling released no other details about the drugs under the guidelines of the state’s new shield law, which keeps secret the name of the supplier of the drug and anyone who helps carry out the execution. The law’s passage in 2023 also helped restart executions so the state could buy pentobarbital and keep the supplier private.
The state’s electric chair, built in 1912, was tested 25 June and found to be working properly, Stirling wrote, without providing additional details.
The firing squad, allowed by a 2021 law, has the guns, ammunition and training it needs, Stirling wrote. Three volunteers have been trained to fire at a target placed on the heart from 15ft away.
In South Carolina, the governor, Henry McMaster, has the ability to grant clemency to an individual on death row. However, no governor has done so in the state’s past 43 executions, the Associated Press reports, adding that McMaster told reporters on Tuesday that he would only announce his decision minutes before the execution when prison officials dial his office from the death chamber.
“When the rule of law has been followed, there really is only one answer,” McMaster said.
In response to McMaster’s comments, Hillary Taylor, executive director of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said: “Just because something is law does not mean that it is justice. Justice would actually be making sure that we interrupt and prevent violence from happening in the first place, not execute somebody who’s been on death row for decades.”
Earlier this week, Taylor’s organization circulated a petition for clemency from McMaster, which has garnered more than 1,300 signatures.
“Khalil Allah … is somebody who experienced profound trauma as a child [and] as an adolescent, both in terms of his family of origin and also the South Carolina judicial system … We do not believe that Khalil should be executed for things that are our fault as a society,” said Taylor.
Calling the death penalty “cheap justice”, Taylor added: “We would literally be better spending money on protecting children and creating more victim services for people who are experiencing violence and harm … The death penalty doesn’t do any of that.”
Taylor also pushed back on the conservative state’s so-called “pro-life” stance on reproductive rights, particularly its six-week abortion ban amid the backdrop of its death penalty law.
“There are government officials in South Carolina who like to brag that South Carolina is an extremely pro-life state, and if indeed all lives matter, then Khalil’s life especially matters because of the ways that he has been let down. He does not deserve to be cut off from this life. He deserves to live,” she said.
The South Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has also condemned the death penalty, with executive director Jace Woodrum saying: “The state is preparing to kill one of our neighbors under a shroud of secrecy. Politicians and prison officials have not only hidden key details about all three execution methods, but they have refused to allow media interviews with people held on death row as they make their last pleas for clemency. We are joining faith leaders, civil rights leaders, and people of good conscience around our state calling on governor McMaster to stop this execution and all others.”
The Guardian has asked the governor’s office for comment.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – Former South Carolina Lt. Gov. André Bauer has been nominated for a position in foreign diplomacy.
The White House on Tuesday listed Bauer as a nominee to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Belize, a Central American country bordering Guatemala.
It’s unclear when a confirmation hearing will take place. WIS has reached out to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee for more information.
Bauer was South Carolina’s lieutenant governor from 2003-2011, serving under then-Gov. Mark Sanford. Before that, he served terms in the South Carolina House of Representatives and the South Carolina Senate.
More recently, Bauer entered the race for U.S. Senate in July 2025, looking to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham in the Republican primary. He ended his campaign the following month.
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CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Six Republican candidates vying to become South Carolina’s next governor met in downtown Charleston for a wide-ranging debate that put abortion, infrastructure and the future of data centers at the center of the race.
The forum was held at the Sottile Theatre, where Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, Lowcountry businessman Rom Reddy and Attorney General Alan Wilson took the stage.
Questions included whether they would support a state hate crime law, how they would address concerns about growth and infrastructure, how to navigate collaboration, abortion and the future of data centers in the state.
One issue that drew near-unanimous opposition was state Senate Bill 1095, a proposed total abortion ban that passed out of committee earlier in the day. All of the candidates opposed the bill, but they differed on what they would do if it reached the governor’s desk.
READ MORE | South Carolina governor candidates tout infrastructure, growth at business forum
Norman said he would sign it.
“You know, this is an emotional issue, but I will tell you if this bill came to my desk as governor. If it passed the House and the Senate, I would sign it,” Norman said.
All of the other candidates on stage said they would veto the bill if it came across their desk as governor, with Reddy arguing the question should be decided by voters.
“The Supreme Court did not say the loudest voice in the ruling class prevails. It said it’s up to the people in the state, so let’s put it to a referendum,” Reddy said.
On infrastructure, candidates discussed reforming the South Carolina Department of Transportation and allowing private-sector involvement to help pay for improvements.
Wilson outlined ideas that included leasing interstate easements and expanding private express lanes.
“We privatized that grass between the interstates. We turn it into private express lanes that can be told we leased the easements on the sides of interstates to telecommunication companies and energy companies, and charge them for natural gas line and fiber optic fiber optic cables,” Wilson said.
Evette also pointed to public-private partnerships and the possibility of fast-pass lanes.
READ MORE | South Carolina governor candidates tout infrastructure, growth at business forum
“We want to make sure that we’re innovative public private partnerships coming in and creating fast pass lanes to allow people that are in a hurry to be able to utilize that,” Evette said.
The final question focused on data centers, with candidates agreeing corporations should “pay their way.”
“They should pay for their water. They should pay for their infrastructure, any roads around it, and we should look at what Governor Ron DeSantis has done in Florida with the large data centers that are coming to Florida. That should be the model in South Carolina and everywhere,” Mace said.
Kimbrell said the state should set limits to protect natural resources and guard against higher power costs for residents.
“Put parameters around data centers to ensure that the water consumption does not impact places like the ACE Basin,” Kimbrell said. “Ensuring that the Public Service Commission makes absolutely sure nobody’s power rate goes up and we try to get behind the meter energy grids in place so they can be self-sufficient.”
Two more debates are planned ahead of the primaries on June 9.
A bill that could make it a felony for doctors to perform an abortion is moving to the full South Carolina Senate with just a few weeks left in the legislative session.
The South Carolina Senate medical affairs committee continued a debate of Senate Bill 1095 on April 21 in Columbia. The bill, sponsored by State Sen. Richard Cash, R-Anderson, builds on a restrictive abortion bill that failed to progress in the fall.
The committee passed the measure in an 8-4 vote, moving it to the full Senate for consideration. Lawmakers have until May 14, the last day of the 2026 legislative session, to pass the bill for it to become law.
Senate Bill 1095, also called the “Unborn Child Protection Act,” bans performing an abortion or supplying abortion drugs. It makes it illegal for a woman to get an abortion, with the only exception being to save a pregnant woman’s life.
It also makes mifepristone and misoprostol Schedule IV controlled substances. Alprazolam (Xanax) and zolpidem (Ambien) are two other examples of Schedule IV substances.
Pro-Life Greenville, an anti-abortion organization based in Greenville, responded to the bill’s progress with “full endorsement” of the legislation.
“Unborn children, like all human beings, deserve to have their lives protected under law here in the Palmetto State,” Pro-Life Greenville stated. “Today’s vote by the SC Senate Medical Affairs Committee brings that urgent need one step closer to reality.”
Under the bill, a woman who has an abortion could face misdemeanor charges. The maximum sentence would be two years in jail with a $1,000 fine.
Those found guilty of performing an abortion or providing a pregnant woman with abortion-inducing drugs could face felony charges, a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail, and a possible $100,000 fine.
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT), a firm opponent of the bill, decried the Senate committee passage. PPSAT Director of Public Affairs Vicki Ringer said in a statement that the bill will cost people their lives, and it will make it more difficult for women to get reproductive and pregnancy healthcare.
“Abortion bans have and will continue to cost people their lives,” Ringer stated. “As this ban inches closer to the governor’s desk, it is becoming increasingly clear just how many of our lives anti-abortion lawmakers are willing to endanger in service to their agenda.”
Bella Carpentier covers the South Carolina legislature, state, and Greenville County politics. Contact her at bcarpentier@gannett.com
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